Submitted via IRC for takyon
University of Bristol researchers have designed and tested a new virtual reality (VR) cloud-based system intended to allow researchers to reach out and "touch" molecules as they move — folding them, knotting them, plucking them, and changing their shape to test how the molecules interact. Using an HTC Vive virtual-reality device, it could lead to creating new drugs and materials and improving the teaching of chemistry.
[...] The multi-user system, developed by a team led by University of Bristol chemists and computer scientists, uses an "interactive molecular dynamics virtual reality" (iMD VR) app that allows users to visualize and sample (with atomic-level precision) the structures and dynamics of complex molecular structures "on the fly" and to interact with other users in the same virtual environment.
Source: Discovering new drugs and materials by 'touching' molecules in virtual reality
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by Snotnose on Tuesday July 17 2018, @01:36AM (1 child)
Can you show the court where the bad molecule touched you? That's ok, we aren't judging you. Just show us where the bad molecule touched you and we'll ruin his life with no hope of recourse, unless the bad molecule has a million bux to pay for lawyers. In which case he's probably guilty but, hey, we have a legal system here to ensure our lawyers always get paid!
I came. I saw. I forgot why I came.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 17 2018, @02:44AM
His face was gaunt, and his body excessively skinny and pale. With not a single muscle to be seen, no one would think of this man as a threat, not even women or children. Yet, this man possessed a certain ability - which could perhaps be classified as a superpower - which made him a threat under certain circumstances. Circumstances like the one he found himself in now.
The skinny man's fist slammed down. It looked to be an incredibly weak punch that could harm no one, but looks can be deceiving, as the results made clear. As soon as the fist came into contact with the little girl, her head exploded. Then, the man rapidly punched three other violated women's heads, with the exact same result. What happened? It was his power.
Yes, this was the true nature of this man's abilities. Although he would be no threat to anyone under ordinary circumstances, his power allowed him to increase the damage he could inflict upon women and children by several dozen orders of magnitude, producing results that were both surprising and incredibly brutal. Perhaps it was because his heart was filled with justice, but regardless of the reason the man possessed this power, he made sure to put it to good use. Indeed, the naked, battered corpses of the women and children surrounding him - which numbered in the dozens - made that clear.
What injustices would this man correct next? Or rather, which toy would be the next to incur his wrath...?
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Tuesday July 17 2018, @01:43AM
I imagine this will be quite informative for exploring the behavior of proteins, which are often far too large to build a viable physical model - the shear weight of the thing would cause it to deform in unintended ways, unless I suppose you made a neutrally buoyant model and worked with it underwater. There've been computer simulations for a while, but trying to interact with a 3D structure through a 2D interface is usually an exercise in frustration.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by c0lo on Tuesday July 17 2018, @02:08AM (4 children)
FoldIt [wikipedia.org] (since 2008) with a VR interface.
Is it truly that revolutionary?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday July 17 2018, @03:57AM (1 child)
And these guys ran with the VR idea, which the researchers claim "found that for complex 3D tasks, VR offers a significant advantage over current methods. For example, participants were ten times more likely to succeed in difficult tasks such as molecular knot tying."
Not even implementing it in VR for the publish-a-paper-about-it props, and nerdy who-cares-if-it's-better-it's-cooler cred seems like a definite mistake by FoldIT.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday July 17 2018, @04:05AM
At the level of 2009 technology, I don't blame them for dropping it.
Even Kinect wasn't released at that stage and manipulating the "stringy things to fold" using a Wii game controller is not that much easier than with mouse/keyboard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 17 2018, @04:22AM (1 child)
Is anything revolutionary anymore?
(Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Tuesday July 17 2018, @04:27AM
Yeap, Che Guevara still is.
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday July 17 2018, @02:39AM
This just in, I have an odd mind. It wanted to know "good touch or bad touch" when I read the headline.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 17 2018, @02:43AM (2 children)
After the IBM 360 and The Mythical Man-Month, Dr. Fred Brooks turned into an academic studying user interface and real problems -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Brooks [wikipedia.org]
From the U. North Carolina site:
http://wwwx.cs.unc.edu/~eve/home/ [unc.edu]
Among other things, he had a low powered force feedback joystick (previous name for a haptic interface) working with molecular modeling--I think as early as the late 1980s (couldn't find a reference with a date for when his lab started on this). I knew about this because good friend did a PhD with him at about that time.
I wonder what innovations this new system offers in addition to being in the cloud...(well, I'm sure it has better graphics than were possible in the late 1980s).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 17 2018, @05:28AM (1 child)
The thing I got out of those management seminars is that if we needed a baby in a month, we had to hire nine women.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 18 2018, @03:52AM
Obviously you didn't go to Fred Brooks' seminars...